Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare parenting stress in preterm mothers with that in fullterm infant mothers according to the developmental stages of their children. Methods: This study used the secondary data analysis approach. Ninety-one preterm infant mothers and 364 full-term infant mothers were selected from the Panel Study on Korean Children using the propensity score matching method. Parenting stress measured at the infancy, toddler, preschool, and early schoolage stages were collected with the characteristics of mothers and children such as age, education level, employment, gender, and gestational age of children. A linear mixed model was used to analyze the effect of developmental stages of children on mothers’ parenting stress. Results: Parenting stress was higher in preterm infant mothers at each developmental stage than in fullterm infant mothers. Parenting stress in preterm infant mothers increased from the infancy stage to the toddler stage but decreased afterward, while parenting stress in full-term infant mothers gradually de creased from the infancy stage to the school-age stage. The changes in parenting stress by developmental stage in preterm and full-term infant mothers were significantly different at the infancy and toddler stages (t=2.32, p=0.020). Conclusion Parenting stress showed a different pattern between preterm infant mothers and full-term infant mothers. Special consideration should be given to develop an educational intervention to assist preterm infant mothers to manage their parenting stress effectively.

PURPOSE: Child Health nurse practitioners (CHNPs) in Korea have important roles in disease management and health promotion for children and adolescents. Yet, practices of CHNPs licensed and employed in hospitals have not been adequately identified. Thus, in this study the scope of practice by CHNPs and job satisfaction and stress were investigated and compared according to the CHNPs' position in the working place. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used. All 53 licensed CHNPs participated in the mail survey which included a 71-item questionnaire on job performance and job satisfaction and a job contents questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, chi2 test, independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare CHNPs employed as nurse practitioner (NP) and CHNPs employed as staff nurses. RESULTS: Compared to CHNPs employed as staff nurses, CHNPs employed as NPs more frequently provided education, environment management, coordination and research in their practice areas. No significant difference was found in job satisfaction between the two groups except for the administration and income subdomains. Only the physical exertion subdomain in job stress was stressful to CHNP employed as staff nurse. Conclusions: Job performance of CHNPs in Korea needs to be revised to include more practical practice in education, coordination, and research related areas. CONCLUSIONS: Job performance of CHNPs in Korea needs to be revised to include more practical practice in education, coordination, and research related areas.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child Welfare* ; Child* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Disease Management ; Education ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction* ; Korea ; Nurse Practitioners* ; Pediatric Nurse Practitioners ; Physical Exertion ; Postal Service ; Statistics, Nonparametric ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Workplace*

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between low external doses of ionizing radiation exposure and the risk of cancer mortality among nuclear power plant workers. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE using key words related to low dose and cancer risk. The selected articles were restricted to those written in English from 1990 to January 2009. We excluded those studies with no fit to the selection criteria and we included the cited references in published articles to minimize publication bias. Through this process, a total of 11 epidemiologic studies were finally included. RESULTS: We found significant decreased deaths from all cancers (SMR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.62 - 0.90), all cancers excluding leukemia, solid cancer, mouth and pharynx, esophagus, stomach, rectum, liver and gallbladder, pancreas, lung, prostate, lymphopoietic and hematopoitic cancer. The findings of this meta-analysis were similar with those of the 15 Country Collaborative Study conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. A publication bias was found only for liver and gallbladder cancer (p = 0.015). Heterogeneity was observed for all cancers, all cancers excluding leukemia, solid cancer, esophagus, colon and lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings of low mortality for stomach, rectum, liver and gallbladder cancers may explained by the health worker effect. Yet further studies are needed to clarify the low SMR of cancers, for which there is no useful screening tool, in nuclear power plant workers.
Humans ; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/*mortality ; *Nuclear Power Plants ; Occupational Diseases/*mortality ; Occupational Exposure/adverse effects ; Radiation Monitoring

OBJECTIVES: Plasma lipid profiles and Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The knowledge of lipid profile may estimate the potential victims of cardiovascular disease before its initiation and progression and offers the opportunity for primary prevention. The most common ApoE polymorphism has been found to influence plasma lipid concentrations and its correlation with CVD has been extensively investigated in the last decade. METHODS: The ApoE polymorphism and its influence on plasma lipid were investigated in healthy woman workers. The information on confounding factors was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire and ApoE polymorphism was investigated using PCR. RESULTS: The relative frequencies of alleles E2, E3 and E4 for the study population (n=305) were 0.127, 0.750 and 0.121, respectively. ApoE polymorphism was associated with variations in plasma HDL-cholesterol lipid profile. In order to estimate the independent effects of alleles E2 and E4, as compared with E3, on lipid profile, multiple regression was performed after adjustment for confounding variables such as age, BMI, blood pressure, education status, insulin, fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, menopause. ApoE2 had a negative association with HDL cholesterol and ApoE4 had a positive association with LDL cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified that the ApoE and CVD risk factors contribute to the lipid profiles, similar to other studies. The analysis including dietary intake and other gene in further studies may help to identify clear effects on lipid profiles as risk factor for CVD.
Adult ; Apolipoproteins E/blood/*genetics/metabolism ; Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology/prevention & control ; Cholesterol, HDL/genetics ; Female ; *Genotype ; Humans ; Lipid Metabolism/*genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Primary Prevention

Purpose: To report preliminary experience of single-port robotic surgery using the da Vinci SP surgical system in gynecologic tumors. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study on 100 consecutive patients who underwent da Vinci SP single-port robotic surgery between November 2018 and January 2021. All procedures were performed by an experienced gynecologic surgeon using a single 2.5-cm umbilical incision. Results: Of the 100 cases, the procedures included myomectomy (n=76), hysterectomy (n=2), endometrial cancer surgical staging (n=14), radical hysterectomy (n=3), radical trachelectomy (n=3), and ovarian cystectomy (n=2). None of the cases was converted to robotic multiport or open surgery. The median docking time was 5.0 minutes [interquartile range (IQR), 3.0–7.0], the median console time was 107.5 minutes (IQR, 78.7–155.8), and the median total operation time was 250.0 minutes (IQR, 215.0–310.0). The median estimated blood loss was 50.0 mL (IQR, 30.0–100.0), and the median change in hemoglobin level was 0.8 g/dL (IQR, 0.3–1.3). The median pain scores rated on a numerical rating scale immediately after and at 6, 12, and 24 hours after surgery were 5, 2, 2, and 2, respectively. The mean duration of postoperative hospitalization was 2.8 days. Conclusion Da Vinci SP single-port robotic surgery was successfully performed in various gynecologic tumors without significant complications. Therefore, this surgical system could be applied in patients who want precise gynecologic surgery while minimizing surgical incision.